Globally the vehicle market was hit badly by the pandemic in 2020, as you might expect. New car registrations dropped by a third in the first half of the year, and whilst they picked up in the second half as everyone settled into COVID life, it was a largely disastrous year for the industry. Apart from for electric vehicles (EVs).
The EV market rose by 70% in 2020 to take 4.6% of the overall global vehicle market, an unprecedented status for this most exciting of emerging technologies. In 2020 alone there were 3 million EVs registered, with Europe accounting for the most with 1.4million. There are many reasons for this rise in the popularity of EVs, namely:
- Governmental zero emission targets
- Fiscal incentives to use and develop EV technology
- Investment in EV infrastructure
- Manufacturers developing more competitively-priced EVs
- EV technology improving in terms of efficiency, power and driving experience
EV registrations in the UK more than doubled in 2020, with 176,000 new EVs being registered, and most major manufacturers now proudly include a flagship EV in their range, with the Tesla Model 3, Audi E-Tron, Nissan Leaf, Volkswagen ID.3 and Renault Zoe catching the eye as the most popular models. The big brands are coming round to the increasing popularity of EVs and are developing crossover SUVs, which tap into this rising interest by offering a vehicle that is suitable for families, work and leisure.
The benefits of electric vehicles
Undoubtedly, EVs have become more popular because they have caught up with traditionally-fuelled petrol and diesel vehicles in terms of costs and driver benefits. Those main benefits for EV drivers in the UK include:
- Cheaper to run – fully electric vehicles, on a cost per mile basis, are roughly 25% cheaper to run than a petrol or diesel equivalent. There are also tax incentives for company car drivers.
- Cheaper to maintain – EVs have fewer moving parts and fewer major components, so there is less general wear and tear and fewer maintenance costs.
- Better driving experience – EVs are quieter and more responsive, with instant torque. And with the battery centred on the floor, there is better weight distribution and a more stable centre of gravity, so handling and balance is also improved.
- Environment – Of course there are zero emissions from EVs, so they are greener and cleaner.
- Developing tech – Huge investment is going into EVs so the battery range, battery efficiency and drive quality is improving all the time.
One of the biggest boosts to the EV market in the UK is the Government buy-in to carbon neutral targets and zero emissions targets. This results in several cash incentives for driving EVs, but also means there needs to be vast investment in the necessary infrastructure, namely ensuring there are sufficient available charging stations.
How TIS are helping the EV market
EV drivers can install these at home, but increasingly we are seeing public-use charging stations in garage forecourts and also in car parks at supermarkets, shopping centres, leisure centres and in municipal parks. This has improved to the point where, for the first time, in 2021 there are more individual EV charging stations than there are petrol and diesel pumps in the UK.
TIS are playing their part in developing this infrastructure, via the TIS EV-TEST100, which is an EVSE charging adapter used for testing EV charging stations. It can be used in conjunction with our award-winning MFT-Pro for top quality electrical testing, and can be ordered as a dual unit as the MFT-PROEV ( find out more about this product in our last blog post - https://www.testinstrumentsolutions.co.uk/viewblog/why-the-evse-testing-kit-is-great-value-for-money ).
* Statistics source -
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2021/trends-and-developments-in-electric-vehicle-markets